The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to a system and method of communicating data.
As the need for information and entertainment by consumers grows, various pipelines have been developed to deliver this data to the different subscribers and users. A pipeline is a system that communicates data from a data provider (e.g., a television station, website on the Internet) to a subscriber. One current pipeline used by Internet service providers such as AmericaOnLine is the telephony system. The subscribers use a computer modem to connect to the Internet service provider over the telephony system. This system, however, is often ineffective for conveying large quantities of data because of bandwidth limitations. Some subscribers have installed higher-speed telephonic connections but due to the associated costs and technical issues this practice is not widespread.
Other pipelines deliver data with varying degrees of success. Conventionally, television stations use a wireless pipeline for its delivery system. The stations broadcast a signal in a dedicated portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and subscribers access the signal with roof-top antennas. Another conventional pipeline is the cable system which uses coaxial cable to deliver video with increased quality and quantity. Recent advances in the cable standards and products including the two-way cable modems have provided two-way communication between the service provider and the subscribers. In addition to the television broadcasting, this advance does allow for Internet access and telephony service over the traditional cable systems.
Recently, the industry has designed various types of fixed point to multipoint wireless systems which provide both one-way and two-way communications. One example of these types of systems is the Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), traditionally used for television broadcasting. There has also been development of the Wireless Loop systems, providing a cost-efficient alternative to the copper wires in the local loop (i.e., the last segment in the telephony network deployment). Additionally, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) recently approved the two-way use of MMDS thereby allowing a wide variety of interactive services within the MMDS spectrum including classic telephony, Internet access, data for business applications and interactive video.
Moreover, the FCC has also recently auctioned off a large amount of bandwidth (1.3 GigaHertz (GHz)) for two-way applications in the frequency range of 28 to 31 GHz known as Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS). Internationally LMDS is also employed under different names and at various frequencies within the range of 10 to 40 GHz for both one-way and two-way communications. As both the MMDS and LMDS employ wide bandwidth with the ability to deliver large amounts of information, they are categorized as broadband wireless systems.
The radio propagation, fading due to rain and snow, atmospheric attenuation as well as other characteristics are different for the MMDS frequency band and the LMDS frequency band. Further, the cost and performance of RF components is also different for these two different frequency bands. Accordingly, these factors as well as others have led to the deployment of MMDS networks having cell radii of approximately 30-100 kilometers and to the deployment of LMDS networks having cell radii of approximately 2-8 kilometers. Thus, more cells are required in an LMDS network when compared with an MMDS network. In turn, the costs of deploying services using an LMDS spectrum is higher when compared with the costs of deploying services using an MMDS spectrum. However, one advantage of deploying LMDS services over MMDS services is that the LMDS network has greater bandwidth and consequently greater transfer capacity when compared with the MMDS network.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a communication system which provides for the maximizing of transfer capacity while minimizing costs associated with such a system.
The above mentioned problems with communication systems and other problems are addressed by the present invention and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification. A communication system is described which includes a number of wireless communication networks providing a number of different services at different frequencies (e.g., LMDS and MMDS) to a number of subscribers in defined geographical regions. Additionally, select portions of these number of wireless communication networks geographically overlap with one another. In one embodiment, the higher frequency networks are strategically placed where the density of subscribers is high within the geographic region of a lower frequency network. Advantageously, the deployment of this type of communication system effectively enables better use of data capacity for a communication system at lower costs than the currently deployed wireless networks.
In particular, an illustrative embodiment of the present invention includes a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system includes a first wireless communication network communicating at a first range of frequency. The wireless communication system also includes a second wireless communication network that is communicatively coupled to the first wireless communication network. Additionally, the second wireless communication network communicates at a second, different range of frequency. Further the first communication network geographically overlaps with a select portion of the second communication network.